Throw the rear view mirror out the window . . .

My online personal trainer, Jonathan Roche, http://www.momentumfs.com is always telling the callers on his radio program to "throw the rear view mirror out the window." Basically, don't beat yourself up over what's happened in the past. This is a talk I'd like to give all the Suzuki parents I work with this time of year. Yes, it would be great if we were all the "perfect" Suzuki students/parents and practiced every day over the summer, listened to our recordings daily and so on. But, the reality is that life happens & summer gets busy. Everyone leaves the school year schedule behind in one way or another and we shouldn't beat ourselves up over it. (That's not to say we can't learn from our experience and plan better for next time though!) Every lesson I teach this time of year starts with this topic . . . I feel like I listen to a string of confessions about how everyone fell short.

I am a Suzuki teacher, but I am also a mother of a middle schooler and a grade schooler and I am right there with all those parents. My children probably practice more than many over the summer but I also feel that we could have done better. However, sometimes those feelings get in the way of being able to focus on what our goals are now and make us feel unmotivated about a new school year of studying music. I say its time to stop looking at what we did or didn't do over the summer and really work on what we did well and what our goals are for the coming year!